Vail opens Friday with skiing out of Lionshead, Vail Village

Thanks to recent snowfall and good snowmaking conditions, Vail will open Friday with more terrain than it typically offers on opening day, including lift access out of both Lionshead and Vail Village.

Vail usually only opens with access out of Lionshead and snow riding on Born Free trail. This season Vail will open Gondola One out of Vail Village and Born Free Express (No. 8), Little Eagle (No. 15) and the Eagle Bahn Gondola out of Lionshead. Little Eagle accesses beginner terrain at the top of the Eagle Bahn Gondola.

“We’re excited to kick off the first year of Vail’s next 50 years this Friday and are looking forward to another incredible season, including the opening of two new chairlifts and much more in store,” said Chris Jarnot, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vail Mountain.

“Our snowmaking and grooming teams have been making great progress on the mountain each day and we are thrilled to announce that Vail will open for skiing and snowboarding out of both Lionshead and Vail Village.”

There will also be a small terrain park on Born Free.

Vail Mountain’s operations team will evaluate additional terrain openings this week and provide more detailed information closer to opening day.

The Lionshead Adult and Children’s Ski & Snowboard School offices will be open for all abilities, and the Vail Village Ski & Snowboard School office will be open for private lessons. Register online at www.vail.com.

Sunday, Nov. 24, is the last day to purchase the Epic Pass for $729. It offers unlimited, unrestricted access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin and Eldora in Colorado, the Canyons in Park City Utah, and Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood in Lake Tahoe, Calif. Got to www.epicpass.com for more information.

Paid parking in Vail’s parking structures and outlying lots also begins on Friday, and Vail Transit will be adding bus service across all routes.

Parking passes are available from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the season on the lower level of the Vail Municipal Building at 75 S. Frontage Rd. Bring proof of eligibility.

For information on parking pass sales and descriptions, call the parking hotline at (970) 479-2104 or go to www.vailgov.com. For information on bus schedules, call (970) 479-2178 or go to www.vailgov.com.

Vail will be joined by Eldora on Friday and Monarch on Saturday, bringing the total number of open ski areas in the state to 10. The other resorts open are Arapahoe Basin, Loveland, Copper Mountain, Wolf Creek, Winter Park, Breckenridge and Keystone.

And all 10 ski areas should see some new snow from a cut-off storm lingering over the state through Saturday, according to meteorologist Joel Gratz of Opensnow.com. But Gratz is not predicting big snow totals this week.